Sunday, March 11, 2018

Are You War Ready for "Pacific Rim Uprising"?

Kaijus going head to head with Jaegers. Or in non-geek speak - Monsters vs Super Machines. That was the main crux of "Pacific Rim", the otaku-pleasing, Guillermo del Toro-directed monster film that became an international hit back in 2013.

The movie had thrilling action sequences, a great chemistry between the two leads Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi, a wonderful Asian female character, fun witty repartee, and the guiltiest pleasure of all -- Idris Elba. Since then, fans (including Red Dot Diva) have been clamouring for more Pacific Rim.

In the years that followed, Guillermo del Toro tried his best to get a sequel off the ground. He had a script ready, however due to conflicts between Legendary and distributor Universal Pictures, production was put to halt. Finally, in early 2016, Legendary announced that the sequel called "Pacific Rim Uprising", will go ahead with a new director and script, with Guillermo del Toro staying on as a producer.

The new director is Stephen S. DeKnight, who is best known as the creator and writer of Starz's "Spartacus" series, is also the showrunner for the first season of Marvel's "Daredevil" TV series.

Right off from the Star Wars movies, John Boyega headlines the movie as Jake Pentecost. Based on that character's last name, Pacific Rim fans will surmise that Jake is the son of the heroic Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) in the first movie. Unlike his father though, Jake is kind of a crook. His Jaeger co-pilot is Nate Lambert, played by Scott Eastwood.

Fan favourites Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) and Dr. Newt Geizler (Charlie Day) are also back in play. With her purple streaked hair and attitude in the first movie, Rinku Kikuchi impressed the legion of female fans around the world by playing a character who was persistent, smart, and best of all, not played to usual Asian stereotypes. That was so rare (and is still so, but little less now) during the time when Pacific Rim was released.

Mako is now in a leadership position within the Pan Pacific Defense Corp or PPDC and in-charge of training the next generation of Jaeger pilots.

This time though, the odds have increased. A more gigantic and stronger kaiju has emerged from the ocean depths, seemingly released by someone who has an agenda of their own. There is also a mystery rogue Jaeger called Obsidian Fury that the new pilots have to contend with. Despite their individual flaws and personal baggage, the young Jaeger pilots will have put these aside and learn how to co-operate in order to save humanity from destruction.

The PPDC's new and upscaled Jaegers no longer represent a specific country. They are sleeker, faster and more powerful, with Gipsy Avenger paying tribute to its predecessor Gipsy Danger.

Gipsy Danger

Saber Athena

To help bring fans up to speed with the missing years between the first movie and the upcoming sequel, there is a free, digital webcomic called "Pacific Rim: Amara". The first 3 episodes were released on the LINE Webtoon last Friday. The webcomic by writers Cavan Scott, Zhang Ran and artist BigN, introduces the character Amara (Cailee Spaeny), whose family was killed by the kaiju attack learned how to build and engineer her own Jaeger together with a few other civilians.

Watch the thrilling "Pacific Rim Uprising" trailer:

"Pacific Rim Uprising" is scheduled for release in local cinemas on 22 March 2018. Ya better get WAR READY!